Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Operations Committee - 09/20/2016 OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MINUTES September 20, 2016 Committee Members Present: Chair Dana Ralph and Bill Boyce. The meeting was called to order by Dana Ralph at 4:00 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL. Committee member Les Thomas had an excused absence. 2. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA. There were no changes to the agenda. 3. APPROVAL OF THE CHECK SUMMARY REPORT DATED 8/16/2016 THRU 8/31/2016. B. Boyce moved to approve the check summary report dated 8/16/2016 thru 8/31/2016. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES DATED SEPTEMBER 6, 2016. B. Boyce moved to approve the Operations Committee minutes dated September 6, 2016. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 5. PORT OF SEATTLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM – CITY APPLICATION – RESOLUTION – RECOMMEND. Economic Development Analyst William Ellis made a request to support an application to partner with the Port of Seattle’s Economic Development Partnership Program; a brand new pilot program that the City was chosen to be a project incubator. If this resolution is approved by full Council, the City will apply for $65,000 in Port partnership funds and will contract out to Food Innovation Network (FIN), the pilot would last a year with utilization of other resources going forward from there. FIN will provide commercial kitchen access for a reduced cost for six to ten entrepreneurs ready to launch their businesses at a new commercial kitchen in downtown’s Titusville Station. In addition to a sliding scale rental fee, entrepreneurs at the new kitchen and international café would receive a small grant to cover license and permit costs. The program is to help home based food businesses, many owned and operated by immigrants and refugees, to professionally scale up and graduate into "brick and mortar" locations. Through the Port partnership funds, the City will be joining other FIN contributors including: Jewish Family Service, Global to Local, the Human Services Managers of SeaTac and Tukwila, the YMCA of Tukwila, small business advisory group Ventures, and StartZone at Highline College. The FIN organization is currently funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Seattle Foundation (Communities of Opportunity), and the Public Health Departments of both Seattle & King County. Non-profit social venture Operations Committee Minutes September 6, 2016 Page: 2 Project Feast, a FIN member, will provide 50 hours per entrepreneur for commercial kitchen orientation, mentorship and weekly workshops on topics like recipe development, and networking with successful food entrepreneurs. The City proposes to utilize its existing contract with the Green River College Small Business Development Center as matching funds by making the time of the small business advisor available to entrepreneurs at the kitchen and international café. B. Boyce moved to recommend Council adopt a resolution declaring support for the city’s application to the Port of Seattle’s Economic Development Partnership Program. The city proposes to contract with the Food Innovation Network to establish a commercial kitchen in Kent for incubation of small businesses. The Mayor is authorized to make a formal cooperative agreement with the Port of Seattle to receive funding and to execute a contract with the Food Innovation Network. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 6. WRITE-OFFS OF UNCOLLECTABLE ACCOUNTS - RECOMMEND. Finance Director Aaron BeMiller asked for authorization to write-off $59,429.20 in uncollectable accounts receivable. As of the end of August, the accounts receivable balance was $2,665,142.37 and the requested write-off represents 2.2 percent of the balance. Write-offs relating to the $59,429.20 are:  Interest and finance charges - $1,448.28,  Unpaid fire permits for businesses that have closed - $3,765.07,  Violations and fines - $24,080.69,  Damage caused to City property - $26,935.05,  Miscellaneous city services - $4648.39. These accounts in collections are from 2008 to 2012. Accounts outside of collections consist of Park’s department programs additional fees from 2001 to 2009 and one account from 2015, which have been deemed uncollectable. There is no budget impact of this motion as these accounts have already been reserved as doubtful accounts and are not included in the net accounts receivable amount. B. Boyce moved to recommend Council authorize the Mayor to write-off uncollectable accounts owed to the City in the amount of $59,429.20, subject to final approval of the Finance Director and City Attorney. D. Ralph seconded the motion, which passed 2-0. 7. JULY FINANCIAL REPORT – INFORMATION ONLY. Mr. BeMiller reported overall the City is in line with what was reported for the June report. Analysis through July show general fund revenues and expenditures ending the year favorable compared to budget; creating an overall positive variance amount of nearly $4.3 million. The current estimated ending fund balance reserves for 2016 calculates to 17.6 percent of estimated 2016 expenses. The following highlights were reported: General fund revenues are estimated to end the year at nearly $3.3 million or 3.8 percent higher than budgeted. Most of the City’s major revenue sources show positive variances compared to budget, including sales tax ($600,000), licenses and permits ($323,000), Operations Committee Minutes September 6, 2016 Page: 3 and B&O ($1.2 million). This is offset by unfavorable variances compared to budget for other taxes ($165,000) and forfeitures ($32,000). Expenditures through July reflect all departments are remaining fairly close to budget. A major highlight to point out is at this time last year, the Non-Departmental fund was at $118,447 in expenses, while this year the fund is right around $1.8 million. That difference is due to the internal utility tax that comes into the general fund then transferred out. 8. DIRECTOR’S REPORT – INFORMATION ONLY. Mr. BeMiller supplied information to members regarding:  2015 State Auditor’s Report: the audit has concluded which covered comprehensive annual financial statements, federal awards, and accountability. The City received a clean audit, there were no findings. However, a management letter, lower than a finding, was issued due to a misclassification of construction work in progress. That classification has since been corrected and there was no impact to the City’s financial statements.  Municipal Continuing Disclosure Cooperative (MCDC) Initiative Update: an SEC rule asks underwriters and municipalities to self-report if they have not been in line with continuing disclosures when doing a bond offering. The SEC has filed action against 72 municipal underwriting firms, which represents about 96 percent of the market share for municipal underwriters. Just recently, the SEC issued action against 71 municipal issuers; the City is not one of those. The meeting was adjourned at 4:33 p.m. by D. Ralph. J. Hays Jennifer Hays Operations Committee Secretary